One of you asked a great question earlier this week: What Bibles do you use to train pastors, and how much do they cost?

Thanks for asking! The Thompson Chain Reference Bible (in French) cost us just under $40 each, then close to $10 more for shipping. We buy them from a publisher in France directly or from a Christian bookstore in Montreal, Quebec. Then we have them shipped to Missionary Flights in Florida, who in turn flies them to Cap Haitien. Finally, we have them carried overland to our conference location. It’s a three-step shipping process – the most efficient we have landed on so far – to get them from our supplier to the training location!

The Thompson Chain Reference Bible in French is our main training tool for church leaders in Haiti. We use around 100 per pastors conference depending on the mix of first-time church leaders and “alumni” (who earned a Thompson Bible at a previous PPI training).

We also provide Creole Bibles because they’re so needed in the Haitian churches. We get them from an American Bible Soclety affiliate in Port-au-Prince at around $10 each depending on the currency exchange rate. We then pay a small shipping fee to have them sent to our conference location. You can give to provide Bibles for pastors HERE.

We’re planning a “Partnership of Pastors Open House” probably in late March. Members of our Cap Haitien mission team will talk about this pastors conference.  Also, as part of that evening, I’m going to offer an introduction to using the Thompson Bible (we’ll have English copies!). I think many of you would really enjoy and benefit from using the Thompson Bible. We’ll keep you posted on the date and location as we get final details ironed out.

Please pray for our pastors training this week. Our team is working hard on preparing conference materials as I write.

From Cap Haitien,

Pastor Ken MacGillivray

We leave next Thursday for Cap Haitien, Haiti, where we’ll train 105 church leaders. Though we’ve offered pastors conferences in Haiti for 10 years, this conference has a couple “firsts.” For starters, this is our first conference in a new city. We have offered conferences only in the city of Ouanaminthe in the past. And this is our first conference using our newly minted foundational training course. This first of six courses is titled The Message and the Messenger (or Le message et le messager in French). I’m VERY excited about this course! It aims at the heart, beliefs and ministry skills of church leaders. We’re looking forward to working through this course with our Haitian brothers and sisters at our conference in Cap Haitien.

Our U.S. mission team met yesterday (my son, Ken III, via FaceTime) to address last questions, pack and pray together. We have three young engineers on our team this time – Jubal Handrich, Ken MacGillivray III and David Schluckebier. They’re enthusiastic, hard-working and have a heart for God and others. Jerry Schuitman and I are looking forward to serving with these young men.

How can you pray for us right now?

• Pastors Esau and Jasmin will pick up our Thompson Bibles from the Cap Haitien airport this Thursday. Pray for the Lord to give them favor with the customs officials as they negotiate custom fees. This often is a frustrating and arbitrary process.
• Pray for 250 Creole Bibles to be delivered safely and on time to our conference site. The Bibles come from Port-au-Prince, where unrest is still present, and shipping is tricky.
• Pray for our Haitian coordination team as they work on final details before our arrival. We have a full conference already – 105 church leaders – and others on a waiting list. These details need to be sorted through accurately to prevent confusion and unnecessary disappointment.
• Ask the Lord to prepare all our hearts for our time together and time in His Word. Pray that God will fill us with His Spirit and use us to encourage and equip each of these men and women for their ministry roles. Pray for their joy and progress in leading their churches well for Christ – all for gospel impact and to God’s glory!

Watch the PPI Facebook page for updates.

What’s next?

It struck me today that our NEXT conference is just five (5) months away – July 11-18 in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. Our mission team for that conference will begin meeting in April! Would you consider giving toward Thompson Bibles and other training materials for our next conference? CLICK HERE to see how you can help.

On Friday, 16 men and women met at our house for three hours. These PPI friends talked, laughed and worked hard! This was our first-ever volunteer workday, and we accomplished a lot. As a warm-up, we put together and labeled 912 packages of over-the-counter medicines for our trip in February. (I had estimated 600!) Read more about Haitians’ need for basic meds <<HERE>>.

When our hard-working crew had wrapped up that task, they affixed return labels and nonprofit “stamps” on 3000 envelopes. A huge help to us since we mail just under 300 newsletters every 6-8 weeks.

Thank you, friends, for your generous and enthusiastic help not only to us but more importantly to church leaders in Haiti – our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

Look for more opportunities to invest in church leaders this spring!